Navigating the new normal No hustle, no bustle, but plenty to do in pandemic-altered Exchange District By: Frances Koncan Posted: 7:00 PM CDT Tuesday, Jun. 16, 2020

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 15/06/2020 (1557 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

I always know it’s summer in Winnipeg when I start getting cankerworms caught in my hair, so it made sense that was the first thing I encountered when I stepped out last Friday for an evening out in my neighbourhood of the Exchange District.

Cankerworms are creepy and annoying, but this year is different. This year I welcome my cankerworm overlords. They remind me of what normal used to feel like.

I’m no longer in mourning for the things I’ve lost or will lose in 2020. I’ve made peace with an empty, lonely summer schedule. And I’ve had experience living through shutdowns before, most recently in 2012 as a student in New York City during hurricane Sandy, so I have some coping skills in my back pocket for how to survive complete social isolation. But while hurricane Sandy shut down a city temporarily, COVID-19 has shut down the world for months.

Hurricane Sandy was a sprint; COVID-19 is a marathon. And lately it seems as if we’re all about to hit a wall.

The Exchange District was hit particularly hard by the COVID-19-related shutdowns. The first few weeks felt like a ghost town. Main Street had almost no traffic, and there was absolutely nowhere to get good coffee.

Three months later, the neighbourhood is finally starting to achieve an echo of normalcy: my favourite doughnut at Bronuts is often sold out, I can finally get a coffee from Parlour again, and the food carts are slowly returning to Old Market Square.

As the meme says: nature is healing.

And after three months of being trapped inside my tiny condo where I live alone — the only physical contact I’ve had since lockdown was when I accidentally grazed the hand of a cashier at Giant Tiger — I am 100 per cent ready for the sweet, sweet taste of Phase 3 freedom.

What does the new Exchange District hold? Will I still remember how to order a drink at a restaurant? What is the dress code during a state of emergency, anyway?

Decked in my best Elaine-Benes-from-Seinfeld-inspired full-length ‘90s floral-print dress and armed with a good friend I hadn’t seen in a while, I set out on an adventure to find answers to these important questions.

Our first stop was Patent 5 Distillery for a professionally made happy-hour cocktail. The small-batch distillery at 108 Alexander St. had just reopened that very day and we were one of the first groups through the doors.

“We didn’t open right away when we could,” owner Brock Coutts says. “We felt that we needed to make sure that everyone is going to feel comfortable.”

“It’s almost like reopening a bar all over again,” general manager Callan Anderson says, “because you’re doing things so differently and you have to be responding to the needs of the province.”

With hand sanitizer by the door, a wide distance between tables and easy access to the bathroom, the bar is ready for guests.

“I think lots of people have been looking forward to coming back,” Coutts says.

He’s not wrong. Minutes after we arrived, the small venue — operating at half-capacity, with just five tables — began to fill up, so we finished our cocktails and headed out to see what else the Exchange had to offer.

With many stores still operating on limited hours, there’s sadly still not much shopping to be done in the area after 5 p.m., so my dreams of a vintage summer wardrobe were temporarily crushed. Instead, we went for a walk.

Last summer, a Friday evening in the Exchange was always full of anticipation. There was always somewhere to go, something to watch or someone to meet. You never knew where the night would take you. That energy dissipated during COVID-19 and has yet to fully return.

In Old Market Square, a few groups of people sat eating poutine from Smoke’s Poutinerie, while others waited for a seat at the King’s Head Pub patio, but it was mostly populated by residents of the area out walking their dogs.

If this were any other summer, it would be considered a slow night. But for a Friday night during a pandemic, the Exchange District was buzzing.

After some window shopping at Shop Take Care, Haberdashery and Boutique Anya, we made our way to Into the Music, where I was hit with an aggressive wave of nostalgia.

Into the Music was the last place I visited before the COVID-19 shutdowns. Entering it reminded me of better times, of happier times, of times where you could actually hug your friends.

The last time I was there I bought Bruce Springsteen’s The River. This time I bought the Original Cast Recording of Hair. That musical has big pandemic energy.

The music store at 245 McDermot Ave. reopened on May 4 and was one of the first stores in the area to do so.

“We were early adapters,” says owner Greg Tonn. “We were really, really enthusiastic about getting back. We just had to.”

Tonn admits Into the Music is still missing the presence of local office workers who shop on their lunch hour or breaks; he is uncertain of how the lack of summer festivals, which normally bring customers to the store, will affect the future.

“We’re encouraged by everything that’s happened since we’ve reopened,” he says. “We’ve had a few ups and downs but we’re feeling like we’re getting close to back to normal.”

After a successful trip to Into the Music, we decided on Peasant Cookery for dinner. About a dozen people were dining inside, but we were craving some sunshine, so we sat on the south side of the patio, which had three small tables and plenty of space to socially distance.

The restaurant at 283 Bannatyne Ave. is not a place that’s normally in my price range, but it seemed like a special occasion, so we splurged on some good wine, good food and had some great conversation.

Then, as if it was like any other Friday night in the Exchange, I went to the theatre. Well, sort of.

I walked back home, logged on to my computer and watched a livestream of a play.

It was almost normal. Almost.

In the race to return to the way things were, I often find myself wondering if that’s something I even want to do. There are a lot of things I miss but just as many things that I don’t miss at all.

Why was I always so busy? Where was I going all the time? Why do I own 15 pairs of jeans? How was I spending so much money on restaurants?

While I miss the bustling energy of my neighbourhood, I’m genuinely enjoying the slower pace of life right now and grateful for this time to reflect, learn, grow and change.

And I know when my neighbourhood comes back to life — even if that isn’t until next summer — I’ll be ready to enjoy it more fully and with more gratitude than ever before.

In the meantime, in lieu of festival season, there are always cankerworms.

frances.koncan@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @franceskoncan